by Ben van Eijk
“It’s made out of a fungus that grows in abundance here in the shadow arc. Prillisly nutritious, we cultivate it ourselves down here so we mir not have to keep going above ground — I’m sure you saw there are many vaars creeping around out there in the dark,” said Oxford to Seth between mouthfuls of the gelatinous soup.
“It’s called clark.”
Seth smiled to himself. He knew a Clark living in Swevender, and he would not be happy about sharing a name with such putrid looking food. Still holding the spoon filled with clark, Seth lifted it slowly and opened his mouth to sample the slop. It was disgusting. Seth thought he might actually choose the clase over having this as his only source of sustenance, but remembering the crying faces of the residents of Chos Garren quickly reminded him which option was better.
He took another scoop and found it easier to stomach this time. Seth realised everyone was watching him with suppressed grins on their faces. One of the soldiers laughed, causing his clark to fly out of his mouth and back into his bowl — well, mostly into his bowl. This caused everyone sitting at that table to start laughing. Suddenly the mood in the room was much warmer than when Seth had entered. The resistance members began talking freely among themselves, making Seth feel a little more comfortable. He tried eating more clark, but after a few bites he was done. He pulled his sticky bag of berries from his pocket, realising the inside of his robe pocket must be getting quite dirty by now (yet another reason for him to start learning dematerialisation). He conjured up some more apples from the cores in the bag and bit into them, making a loud crunching sound. Once again the table went silent as everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the fruit Seth had on the table before him.
He picked one up and offered it to the bald man sitting next to him. Oxford’s smile grew even wider as he observed the interaction. The man reached for the fist-sized fruit and looked at it skeptically. He bit into it, imitating how Seth had first done it. The man’s eyes almost popped out of his head as his taste buds registered the sour flesh of the green fruit. He turned to Seth.
“Kesson! Oxford said you had some interesting technology! Can you make some more?”
“Sure,” said Seth, and several more apples appeared in front of him. One began rolling towards the other end of the table and Seth saw that every head on the table was following the journey of the produce as it made its journey. Seth had never seen a piece of fruit earn so much attention.
“Mirs anybody else want one?” he asked in a loud voice.
A chorus of affirmative responses rang out and the few apples in front of Seth became a huge pile of apples. Some of the men and women started grabbing them and throwing them to their fellow resistance members. Bright green spheres were being flung left and right, now making quite a mess in the dining hall — even Oxford’s grey beard had evidence of apple in it as he munched on the sour fruit.
Oxford stood up and everyone became silent. He spoke with careful diction in a loud booming voice:
“This is just a small example of the kind of technology Seth has to offer! Today we will take back Chos Garren. Today is the death of clase!” The dining hall filled with deafening cheering and banging on the tables while more apples were flung through the air. One of the men stood up and proclaimed,
“This boy is something else: he can summon tarin stone from nothing, he can knock down our metal gates without even touching them, he took out three of our men without a scratch, and these green berries are spizzing delicious!” The man’s small speech was greeted with another chorus of positive shouting and cheering.
Oxford was still standing and raised two hands to indicate that silence should return. The room became quiet again except for the slight murmur of excited whispers and the crunching sound of apples being eaten.
“This boy, Seth, needs some information from the Inquirers, so we are going to help him get it from them, and in turn, he is going to help us reclaim Chos Garren!” Another chorus of cheering began, but Oxford moved his hands to indicate he hadn’t finished.
“So, today — today we will emerge from the shadow arc. We will not infiltrate the central arc in the same manner we have on so many other occasions, hidden in darkness. Our presence will be known! We are going to make such a lasting impression that the Inquirers won’t be able to hide us anymore. They won’t be able to hide the fact that the people of Chos Garren are being controlled, and have been for hundreds of years. They will have to acknowledge the oppression of their village. They will have to answer us, and they will have to come out of their fortress. We will show them power: the power of the individual experience, the determination it brings, the drive it creates, and they will feel it firsthand! They will feel the emotions they have been suppressing with the clase pummel them into the ground and back to the absence!” This time the troops shouted even louder, while Oxford’s eyes shined with pride watching them.
***
After the meeting in the dining hall, the troops had all left to equip themselves and to don clean clothes. They were now carrying weapons made from a similar material to the ghilt Seth had already seen, but these were much bigger and looked like they would cause five times the damage — and would be five times as heavy. Seth realised just how strong they all must be when he saw the troops fully equipped; they also carried large assault packs on their backs, containing all necessary equipment for the attack, yet they showed no sign of encumberment.
Oxford had taken Seth back to his room while the troops were preparing, to explain what their method of attack would be. The resistance actually had some impressive weapons at their disposal — they could even fire projectiles that would explode upon impact, but they were only to be used in an emergency. They now had an extra objective which included keeping the Inquirers alive so Seth could question them.
The resistance also had vehicles bearing more than enough firepower to level many of the buildings in Chos Garren (although that was definitely not their goal!). These weapons worked on the same principle as ghilts, but fired at a much faster rate and higher velocity. Seth could only imagine the result if this was pointed at a human; he shuddered at the thought. Their vehicles had even larger versions of these weapons mounted on their sides, controlled from inside the vehicle. Oxford told him the vehicles were known as armoured personnel carriers, and while they could fit twenty men in each, they needed only two people to operate them.
Seth started to wonder why the resistance even needed his help. Surely the Reference Centre wouldn’t last a second against such force, and if the Inquirers were as smart as Oxford claimed, then they would be intelligent enough not to resist. But Oxford warned Seth that the Inquirers had many weapons of their own, and they had most likely improved and developed them during the forty years since Katarina Duggles deserted. Their best chance to beat the Inquirers was to take advantage of their overconfidence. Over the years their stead of power hadn’t suffered a single direct attack. Oxford had intentionally avoided any so the Inquirers wouldn’t feel the need to devote their efforts towards thwarting resistance efforts —part of a plan developed by the previous leader, Eliah, and continued by Oxford.
The resistance would attack the two towers from the forest side; they did not want to give Chos Garren citizens the chance to alert the Inquirers to their approach. The surprise attack would give the resistance an advantage and hopefully minimise deaths. Oxford felt compelled to question Seth again about his technology to see if he could adapt it, but Seth explained that for the people of Estever, matter manipulation was closer to magic than technology. No blueprints could be made to teach matter manipulation and Seth wasn’t even sure how to teach anyone who had never encountered it before, never mind the fact that it didn’t even seem to work with matter in Estever. However, Seth assured Oxford that it was more than powerful enough to stop things like the weapons the troops were now carrying. He could probably destroy the weapons, or take them from the enemy’s hands, or bind their limbs. And as a last resort, Seth could even erect a wal
l of metal using one of the materials in his many rings, thick enough to stop any projectiles from reaching the troops. Actually, when he considered it, Seth felt he had countless options.
Once Oxford was sure Seth completely understood the plan, the two of them moved through the complex and met the rest of the resistance in a large chamber with five indestructible looking vehicles. Two of them were like huge metal boxes, leaning forward on multiple wheels. All of the wheels had one big metal belt wrapped around them, making one big oval shaped wheel on either side. The other three vehicles had three huge wheels on either side of them connected to a horizontal, oval-shaped body. The body was about three metres long and two metres high, with several huge weapons mounted on its side — and then one even bigger on the top of the vehicle. The huge machine had three windows along each of its sides, revealing the inside to have a six-person capacity. The troops had assembled by their assigned methods of transport.
Oxford walked to the smallest group and turned around to see Seth standing near the entrance to the garage, looking in amazement at the five great machines in front of him.
“Seth, you’ll be riding in Disputant Two with me,” said Oxford. Seth scuttled over to join him. Oxford took a deep breath and looked around, aware that all of the troops were staring at him, waiting for some kind of signal. His voice echoed across the concrete chamber:
“You’ve all heard it already, you know the plan! Move out!” The troops all shouted in response and began to climb into their vehicles.
Seth was last to climb into the disputant, and found himself sitting between two extremely focused resistance members in white uniforms. Seth heard Oxford’s voice shouting orders to the driver. In front of the vehicles was a large metal panel which made a portion of the chamber wall. It slowly opened revealing the pitch-black of the shadow arc outside. Suddenly, the disputant made a loud rasping sound, its volume rumbling upwards before quickly falling back down to a growl; the whole vehicle was trembling now. The rest of the resistance vehicles followed suit and started their motors. Lights appeared on the front of all the vehicles as the resonating sound of the engines filled Seth’s ears. Slowly, the disputant two moved forward until it had left the comfort of the lighting illuminating the underground complex.
Seth twisted in his seat and saw the rest of the vehicles following behind, while a few strange shapes passed through their front lights. Oxford pulled a flat, round device from his pocket and looked at it thoughtfully. He then pointed to the right of the driver, who spun the steering wheel of the disputant. Seth felt the centripetal acceleration pushing him to the left. It felt like they were going extremely fast; Seth could not see much from the backseat, but what little he could see was approaching them at a great velocity. A few creatures were briefly illuminated in the disputant’s lights as they ran suicidally across its path. Seth wasn’t sure why he didn’t just fly himself there; the amount of rocks and bumps they were hitting were throwing Seth around so much he was basically in flight the whole time anyway.
Chapter 8
Exiting the shadow arc was an extremely liberating feeling. Seth still wasn’t used to so much darkness; entering the central arc felt like climbing out of a poorly ventilated cave. However, being strapped inside a vehicle with four other men dulled the effect for Seth somewhat. It took some time to adjust to the light again, even though it was still the same soft sunset lighting as always in the central arc of Estever. The resistance bumped along grassy landscapes with a sporadic spread of trees; it was relatively easy to navigate. The sunset light was a welcoming glow and led them quickly to Chos Garren; it was a straight path from the resistance compound. About two kilometres out from the Reference Centre, everyone stopped. One person stepped out of each vehicle, including Oxford. Seth couldn’t hear clearly what Oxford was yelling, but he assumed it was further orders on their plan of attack, in which Seth now had his own part to play.
Seth clambered out of the vehicle, jumped, and began levitating as a liquid propeller appeared beneath him. Oxford watched in amazement as Seth levitated higher and higher. Soon, Seth was a few metres above the treetops and could see the five resistance members climb back into their vehicles. Seth watched the machines spread out into a line as they moved forward, keeping about ten metres distance between each other. The true size of the two towers became more apparent the closer they got. Eventually they were only a hundred metres away. But still met no resistance. The Disputant Two stopped and the rest of the convoy followed suit. The assault team was assessing the situation and the towers stood stoically in front of Oxford’s men, as static as ever.
Seth saw one of the pipes on the Reference Centre suddenly bend itself in an impossible manner. The open end of the pipe was now pointing towards the assault team. A small red light appeared inside the pipe and grew progressively brighter. Seth had been warned by Oxford that the Inquirers fought with ruthless tactics, that any sign of movement normally meant it was already too late. A metal root sprouted from Seth’s hand, about half a metre in diameter and made from tiny flakes, growing swiftly towards the glowing pipe. But it was as Oxford described it: too late. Just before the metal root could encompass the pipe, a straight red shaft of light appeared, connecting the small pipe to one of the disputants. The red plasma beam was only visible for a split second, but this was enough to cause the disputant to explode into a rapidly expanding cloud of debris and flame. The shockwave from the explosion was enough to unbalance Seth, floating up above the trees; he felt the heat of the blast wash over him as he tried to regain his balance.
The doors of the personnel carriers opened up and the troops came filing quickly out, weapons at the ready. The wall of one of the towers suddenly came alive as its pipes started writhing about, creaking from years of disuse. Some started glowing while others made strange clicking noises. A few started making sounds similar to a ghilt. Seth reacted instantly, more metal roots sparkling as they grew out of his extended hands and covered the entire side of the building facing the assault team. Some spots of the building’s new metal veneer were already glowing slightly red. The spots got brighter and brighter, hypnotising Seth, until the red plasma columns poked through once again. Molten metal sputtered from the holes made by the crimson beams and dripped downwards. Seth summoned even more metal to thwart this weapon of the Inquirers.
Near the base of the tower Seth could hear shouting from the resistance members. One of the disputants was hit by the Reference Centre’s weapon, but it avoided combustion this time. The vehicle’s front door flew open and a resistance member spilled out onto the grass, huge patches of blood staining his white uniform. Oxford jumped out of the door next and stepped over his fallen comrade. He immediately ran for cover behind a huge rock near the active Reference Centre tower, exposing himself to an inactive side of the tower. Just as before, the wall suddenly became a surface of flailing metallic conduits as an eerie chorus of creaking pipes reverberated over the landscape.
Seth once again started covering up the face of the tower to stop the small swarm of cannons from obliterating Oxford. As before, Seth was not in time to stop all of the weapons and the rock Oxford was hiding behind exploded after a short pummelling from plasma and metal projectiles. Oxford flew to the ground and quickly stood up to run to somewhere else to take cover. Another wall of the tower had now acquired a smooth metal exterior, courtesy of Seth’s matter manipulation. The resistance members were now spread out around the tower; the two walls that remained untouched by Seth were still able to fire on them. Seth circled the tower to cover the other two walls in shielding before they caused any more damage. Seth saw the familiar glowing spots on the metal surface now coating the whole tower and added another layer of metal to it. The tower almost doubled in thickness and was now completely smooth.
Suddenly, it was unreasonably quiet. The projectile weapon fire from both sides was gone and the columns of red were no longer dancing around the landscape. Some of the men started shouting to each other, moving from tree to tre
e. Seth could hear a strange buzzing sound as he lowered himself slowly to discuss the next stage of the with Oxford. As he was descending, he saw dead bodies, small pools of blood visible on the flattened grass next to the stilled resistance members. One of the surviving men was kneeling beside a body, shouting louder than anyone else. They had done their best and stopped the onslaught from the Inquirers for now, but as expected there were casualties.
Seth was getting closer to the others while he noticed the buzzing louder, then softer, and seemed to be coming from the disabled tower. He moved closer and listened carefully. The noise gradually became louder and higher in pitch. Seth predicted this noise did not herald anything pleasant. From above, Seth could hear a noise like crumbling rock and instinctively covered his head with his arms while small chunks of metal rained down towards him. From the smooth metal shielding the tower poked a sharp spike with spiralling grooves, boring a hole in the coating Seth had manifested. The spike turned to point towards the sky, like it was scanning for something; Seth realised it was probably him.
The resistance members opened fire on the spike before it was able to begin whatever vicious plan was intended — but their shots were either missing or not having any effect, as the spike continued to dart around, sparks flying from projectiles as they flashed across its surface. Seth clicked his fingers, adding magnesium to the flame that sprouted from his hand, and extended the fire into a metre-wide beam aimed straight at the spike. Once the torrent of white flame stopped, Seth could still see the spike: it had resisted being melted but was no longer darting around frantically.